MESA, Ariz. — General manager Doug Melvin was a curious World Series observer despite a shocking tumble that eliminated his Brewers from playoff contention.
But Melvin's farm system could take credit for the development of speedy center fielder...

Look beyond those massive snowbanks, past the forecast for the next winter storm, and focus on the trucks. Those glorious tractor-trailers will be packed with baseball equipment in Boston and New York before rolling south this week.
Spring training is...

SAN DIEGO — The flurry of activity at this year's winter meetings was in stark contrast to last year in Orlando, Fla., when there were no mega-signings or blockbuster deals.
This was more like an old school meetings, with stars such as Matt Kemp,...

On paper it was a bad day for the Cubs, who watched their archrivals get better Monday while missing out on one of their primary free-agent targets
The Cubs lost out on free-agent catcher Russell Martin, who signed a five-year, $82 million deal with the...

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In the end, what they do is much more important than what they say. In the end, the players they put on the field in April and October are much more important than the words they stuff into microphones in November and February.
Still, it is head-scratchingingly hilarious when Major League Baseball executives issue over-arching philosophical pronouncements and stroke-by-pen-stroke debunk their own words. After the Yankees splurged on Masahiro Tanaka, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran last...

Alex Rodriguez is back on the 40-man roster of the New York Yankees.
Rodriguez served a one-year suspension on the restricted list and the 39-year-old third baseman is owed $61 million for the next three seasons. His contract includes a bonus of $6 million if he ties Willie Mays on the all-time home run list, and Rodriguez is only six homers shy of that 660 mark.
Manager Joe Girardi said at the end of the season that Rodriguez is likely to return at third base and perhaps as a designated hitter. The...

The new generation of Kansas City Royals fans might swoon at Alex Gordon, or Lorenzo Cain, or Mike Moustakas. The guy who flew 14 hours to get here from South Korea is a diehard fan.
So, as SungWoo Lee bounced behind the batting cage before Game 1 of the World Series, excitement evident in his every step and every word, he leaped at the sight of an old-school Royals player.
"Mike Sweeney," Lee said. "I can't wait to run to Mike Sweeney right now."
Lee is the unlikeliest of celebrities at the World...

The decision could go down as one of the wisest in baseball history.
The St. Louis Cardinals had just won the World Series, for the second time in six years. Albert Pujols, their three-time most valuable player and the best hitter to grace St. Louis in half a century, had just filed for free agency.
The Cardinals decided they would go to great lengths to keep Pujols, but not to any lengths, certainly not to guarantee him 10 years. The Angels did, for $250 million.
In the three years since then,...

Cal Ripken Jr. remembers well the pleasures of playing in Kansas City the last time the Royals were contenders — the smart, respectful fans who adored their team but would also applaud an opponent's standout catch.
"Playing in Kansas City was a lot like playing in Baltimore," the Orioles great said Thursday as his former club prepared to play the Royals in the American League Championship Series.
It's hard to imagine two franchises or two fan bases better equipped to understand one another's...

DETROIT -- Buck Showalter has played postseason chess several times before, and like most participants as confident as he is, he has lost more times than not.
But in the Orioles’ triumphant American League Division Series sweep of the Detroit Tigers, the manager pulled all the right strings.
Before the Orioles’ series-clinching Game 3 win over the Tigers on Sunday afternoon, he switched the rotation, tabbing right-hander Bud Norris to start. And down to the final two outs, he veered from...